Back when we bought actual, physical media (records, tapes, CDs) I listened to entire albums from beginning to end, repeatedly until I knew every song. All the lyrics, all of the music and I also read the liner notes and credits over and over. I quite literally wore out all of the first several albums I ever owned from repeated listening.

It’s a bit tougher now to get all of the information with streaming services, but Wikipedia helps. I’m currently working through Toto’s catalog, I really forgot how good they are and how many really good songs they wrote besides their big hits. Before them, I spent about two months listening to a couple of older Santana albums. Next up, who knows?